348 The Flowering Plants of Western India. 



none of the tribe in W. or S. India. The cultivated species 

 are the following : 



A. ascalonium, the shallot. 

 A. ampeloperasunij the leek, Korat. 

 A. cepa, the onion, pidz, kdnda, kal. 

 A. sativum, garlic, lassan. 



The well-known superiority of the Bombay onions is due to 

 their descent from Portuguese plants, though the size of the 

 bulb has degenerated to that of the common English onion. 



" In warmer climates the onion produces a larger bulb, and 

 generally of a more delicate flavour than in England, and is more 

 extensively used as an article of food. . . . In Spain and Portugal 

 a raw onion is often eaten like an apple." Chambers. 



" There is an odour of sanctity about the onion and the garlic, 

 turn up our noses as we may. The ancient Egyptians offered them 

 as first-fruits upon the altars of their gods, and employed them also 

 in the services for the dead ; and such was their attachment to them 

 that the followers of Moses hankered after them, despite the manna, 

 and longed for ' the leeks, and the onions, and the garlic, which they 

 did eat in Egypt freely.' Nay, even the fastidious Greeks not only 

 used them as a charm against the evil eye, but ate them with 

 delight." W. W. Story, " Eoba di Roma." 



Some species of Allium, including A. sativum and a few other 

 plants, have small bulbs (bulbils or bulblets) mixed up among the 

 umbel of flowers. The flowers of several of the garlics are very 

 pretty and pure-looking, and but for the strong smell in the roots 

 and leaves would be very attractive as garden flowers. " Cloves of 

 garlic "are the subordinate bulbs of which the bulbous root of the 

 garlic plant is composed. Moly, the plant or root which Hermes 

 gave to Ulysses to overcome the enchantments of Circe, is said to 

 have been an Allium. Alphonse Karr says it was the yellow garlic, 

 A. aureum, which has the reputation of being a preservative from 

 enchantments, spells, and evil presages. 



5. DlPCADI. 



D. montanum ( Uropetalum m. , D.) . Scape about a foot high, 

 leaves linear folded, about as long, flowers in a raceme, white, 

 tubular or bell-shaped. 



Rntnagherry. W. Deccan and Belgaum (J).). 



* D. minor, a species found by Dalzell in rocky places at Malwan, 

 and not otherwise known. H. says it is at once distinguished from 

 the last by the small size of the flowers, the perianth of this being 

 given at one-third to half an inch, and of the other three-quarters of 

 an inch. * D. Concanense (Uropetalum c. D.). Scape six to twelve 



